Mattress cleaning, mixing, opening, and filling machine



Jam 23, '1 923.

. F. FRANKE ET AL. MATTRESS CLEAN l N 4 SHEETS'SHEET l G Mr X NG! OPEN] NG, AND F| LLING MACHINE. Fl LED OcT. 22.

lwve/wliozs; Fred Fran ke E. Miller.

I E.E.RO7OLP'7Q F. FRANKE ET AL.

Jan. 23, 1923.

MATTRESS CLEANING, MIKANG FILED OcT.

2 T E E H 5 s T E E H S Fred. TrqnKe. JE.MLTleP,

ob arts Jan. 23, 1923.

MATTRESS CLEAN N Fi LED 001'. 22, 1921 'F. FRANKE ET AL. 6, MIXING, OPENING AND F| LLING MACHINE.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3 ammo m FPed FranKe. J. EhM'iUer.

B E Ii obemir -s.

F. FRANKE ET AL.

Jan. 23, 1923.

F| LL I NG MACHINE.

MATTRESS CLEANIN 6, MIXING. OFENING,AND

4 SHEETS'SHEET 4 Fl LED OcT. 22 1 921 QnlCe. lern Fred Fr E-Mil E1513. 01:) arts,

Patented Jan. 23, 1923.

FRED FRANKE, JAMES E. MILLER, AND ELDER E. ROBERTS, OE LOUISVILLE, KEN- TUCKY, ASSIGNORS, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TU FEED FRANKE & COIVIPANY,

A. CORPORATION OF KENTUCKY.

MATTRESS CLEANING, MIXING, OPENING, AND FILLING MACHINE.

Application filed October 22, 1921. Serial No. 509,521.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRED F RANKE, JAiuns E. MILLER, and ELDER E. Ronnn'rs, citizens of the United States, residing at Louisville in the county of Jefferson and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mattress meaning Mixing, Opening, and Filling Machines of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings. I

This invention relates to machinesused in the making of mattresses, and particularly tomachines for cleaning, opening and mixing cotton, cotton wastes, kapok, feathers, and similar materials used in the manufacture of mattresses.

The general object of the invention is to provide a machine of this character which shall open and thoroughly pick thematerial of'whieh the mattress is to be made and which will remove the {lust and dirt therefrom. and in which the amount of dust and dirt to be taken out of the material can he rcgulateh thus obviating the objection incident to manvmachines intended for the same purpose that the stock is either not properly cleaned or tOOlDUCll good stock is lost.

A further-object in this connection is to provide means whereby when the stock is opened up. the heavy dirt, seeds and like relatively heavy foreign matter will drop downward through a wire screen, while at the same time the light and fine dust is be ln drawn through a screen in the upper portion of the heating compartment, and the provision of means whereby the amount of relatively heavy foreign matter removed from the mattress material and the amount of relatively light dust removed from the mattress material can be independently re ulated or indeed shut off entirely.

.inother object is to provide a construction of this kind which will remove most, if not all, of the light finedust, not only making a much better mattress hut improviua the condition of the workroom.

Sitill another object is to provide a ma thoroughly picked apart and the dust and foreign matter removed therefrom, and is then removed by suction from the picking or heating chamber and blown directly into the mattress or pad in which it is to be used.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description. ()ur invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a top plan view of amattress stock picker and cleaner constructed in accordance with our invention;

Figure 2 is a section on the line 29 of Figure" 1;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal section on the line of Figure 2; i y i Figure 4 is an end elevation of the machine;

Figure 5 chine;

l i o ure 6 is a detail fragmentary view of the locking means for one of the chains 19.

Referring particularly to Figures 1 and 3. it will be seen that this machine includes an outer, rectangular casing, designated gen erally 10, and through which passes the heater shaft ll. mounted in suitable hearings in the ends of ti 2 casing. This shaft ll at one end carries the fast and loose pulleys l2. and 13 whereby power is adapted to he applied from a belt to the beater shaft and thus to the other instrumentalities of the machine. At its opposite end, the shaft 11 carries upon it the pulley l i. Mounted upon the heater shaft or picker shaft are a plurality of beater arms 15 which extend radially through the shaft and may be of different lengths and are arranged spirally around the shaft so that these beater arms or pickers not only act heaters and pickers but they also act in a sense as a screwconveyor tending to cause the travel of the stock from. one end of the heater chamber to the other. The bottom of the heater cylinder is formed by a screen of relatively coarse mesh and designated 16, which is attached by cleats or other means to the side walls of the heater chamber; and hingedly mounted upon the side walls of the heater chamher are two valves or doors 1i" and 18 which constitute dirt discharge/"reg; ulators. These doors are formed of; sheet metal initially flat but yielding as they are drawn to a cl-r: 1 position so that they will is a perspective'view of the maclosely approximate the shape of the curved screen 16. When these doors are pulled up they will first engage against the screen on the extreme outer margins of the doors, then the middle of the doors will engage as they are more tightly closed, and eventually the whole door Will fit tightly against the screen. It will be seen that if one of these doors is closed, one-half of the screen surface is closed, and that if only the outer margins of the doors contact with the screen that only a portion of the screen will permit the passage of dirt. This screen 16 is of sufliciently large mesh to allow all of the dirt to be knocked out of the mattress material while it is passing through the ma-,

to regulate the discharge of dirt therefrom chains 19 are attached to the free edges of the doors and extend from the, free edge to the opposite side wall of the casing and through an opening 20 in this side wall. A plate 21 is attached over this opening which is provided with a slot, as for instance a keyhole slot, 22 which permits the chains to be held in any adjusted position. It will be obvious that by lifting the chain up, it may be pulled or released to shift the door, and that by bringing the chain down within the narrow portion of the keyhole slot, the links will catch on the wall of the keyhole slot and hold the door in its adjusted position. Any other means may be used for holding these chains with the doors in adjusted position. The lower portion of the casing 10 below the doors 17 and 18 forms a receptacle into i which the dirt, seeds and other heavy foreign matter which falls downward through the screen may be received.

Extending over the beater are a plurality of angle irons 23 which support plates 24:

extending upward toward each side of. the beater from the middle thereof and disposed between these pla-tes and arching overthe middle of the space between the edges of the plates is the screen 25 of fine mesh. The

' plates 24- and the angle irons 23 carry upon them a plurality of longitudinally extending saws 26 or combs which act to thoroughly comb out the stock as it is whirled around by the heaters and also. act to retard the movement of the stock from the entrance end of the beater chamber to the discharge end thereof. e have illustrated these combs as in the form of saws having teeth beveled from the inlet end of the machine, but we do not wish to be limited to this.

Extending inward from the side wall of the machineis a shelf or board 27, and hingcdly mounted adjacent the edge of this board is a cover section 28 and hingedly mounted to'this first cover is a second cover section 29. These cover sections may, be extended over the screen 25, as illustrated in dotted lines in Figure 3, orturned back so that the cover section 28 is disposed over the board 27 and the cover section 29 extends partly over the screen or the cover section 29 may be turned up to an approximately vertical position so as to carry it entirely away from the screen. These cover sections 28 and 29 form doors whereby the amount of dust which is taken from the stock may be regulated and controlled. Q Y j The door sections 28 and 29 permit either the whole or a portion of the upper screen 25 to be closed and this will control the amount of light dust which is drawn off into the casing which extends over the screen 25. The casing 10 has alength somewhat greater than thatof the beater and extends up above the cover sections 28 and 29, as illustrated in Figure 2, the front of this casing being provided with a hinged door'30 Whereby access'may be had to-the interior of the upper portion of the casing. The lower portion of the casingv may be also provided'with a removable door whereby access may be had to the lower portion of the casing if desired. One end of the casing is formed with an inlet opening 81, and'extending out from this inlet-opening are brackets 32 upon which a feed belt is mounted whereby stock may and over these rollers travels the transverse- 1y slatted conveyor belt 38. The slides 34 are longitudinally slotted and held in place by means of a bolt having the wing nut 39 and these slides are adjusted by means of the adjusting screws 1-0 having screw-threaded engagement with the bracket at the rear end of the slots 41 in which the slides move. Thus the tension of the conveyor belt 38 may be taken up from time to time.

At'the inner I end of the brackets is also mounted thefeed roller 42- mounted upon a shaft 1-3. The shaft 33 carries loose upon it at one end the relatively large sprocket wheel at which is driven by means of the sprocket chain 45 from the sprocket wheel a sprocket'wheel 5.7 over which a sprocket chain 58 runs to a sprocket wheel 59 mounted upon the shaft 43 of the feed roller. Thus the feed roller andthe conveyor belt 38 will be driven at the same speed. r

The pressed fiber or other mattress material is placed on the conveyor belt 38 and is carried under the corrugated feed roller 42, this feed being the same as that commonly used in machines for picking cotton apart, and from these feed. rollers the stock is taken by the revolving beater shaft and carried through the machine by thespirally arranged beater fingers and is combed out by means of the several rows of saw teeth heretofore referred to. I

For the purpose of carrying off the light dust, we provide an air duct 60 which extends downward at the rear end of the machine and which may be in the form of a pipe, this duct at its lower end communicating with the fan chamber 61 wherein is disposed a suction fan 62 mounted upon a shaft 63, which shaft carries a bandwheel 64' driven by means. of a belt 65 from the main beater shaft 11 of the machine. This fan chamber 61 has a discharge outlet 66. The shaft 63. extends longitudinally of the machine and into, a suction fan chamber 67 which has a discharge opening 68 and a lateral opening 69 leading into a stock discharge box 70 which opens at its upper end into the beater casing at 71. The stock is drawn through the opening 71 into the stock discharge box and drawn downward and into the suction fan casing and is discharged out through the outlet thereof directly into the mattress or pad which. is being made. Duct 60-has an adjustable gate 60.

This gate 6O controls the draft or suction andiis intended to be opened to the amount required in order to renrove the proper amount of dust. If it is only partially open it will not permit the removal of as much dust as when fully opened and the entire current of air is being drawn or sucked through the stock. I

It will be seen that with this mechanism the mattress material may be cleaned, mixed, thoroughly picked apart and opened and filled into the mattress casing or pad casing. and that while it is being mixed and opened the heavy dirt disengaged from the hairs or fibers will drop downward through the screen 16, while the light dust and foreign particles are drawn out through the screen 25. By providing a feed conveyor with a feed roller,-we secure a fine feed of the machine, thus preventing an operator from feeding too much of the stock into the cleaner at onetime andthusp-reventing the material from becoming clog ed or packed within the beater chamber. The dust discharged by the dust fan may be conveyed to any suitable point of deposit by means of an ordinary stove pipe. This attachment rcmoves most of the light, fine dust and thus makes a'better mattress, and also improves the condition of the work-room. A very important feature of the inventionis that the amount of dust and dirt to be taken out from the stock can be regulated. thus while permitting the stock to be thoroughly cleaned. preventing good stock from being lost.

Thus when the machine is used for mixing or opening up stock for a Garnett machine or when running clean stock from which there is nothing to be removed, the doors which cover the screens are closed entirely. The doors are partially closed when it is not desired to thoroughly clean the stock. Thus a mattress manufacturer will use the same grade cotton for first and second grade mattresses, removing. all of the dust to make the better grade mattress but leaving part of the dust and dirt in for the lower grade. The suction pipe is provided with the gate or door 60 to provide for running different grades of material through the machine. Thus when running a heavy stock the suction pipe is left entirely open, while on the lighter material it is partially closed and serves a purpose similar to the doors over the screens. The feeding mechanism is necessary in order that the stock may be gripped while it is being fed into the machine so that the fingers on the shaft will tear the stock up into small pieces, thus opening the stock up more thoroughly. Furthermore, this feeding mechanism prevents the operators arm from being drawn into the machine.

lVe claim 1. A mattress stock cleaning and picking machine comprising a'supporting frame. a heater chamber. a heater cylinder therein. the top and bottom of which are formed of fine wire mesh. the beater cylinder having an entrance opening at oneend and a. discharge opening at the other end. a heater shaft passing through the cylinder and having heaters mounted thereon, dust collecting suction means connected to the upper portion of the beater. chamber whereby to remove fine dust from the stock. and adjustable closures coacting with the screens to regulate the discharge therethrough.

2. A mattress stock cleaning and picking machine comprisinga supporting frame. a beater chamber. abeatercylinder therein. the top and bottom of which are for 'ned of fine wire mesh the beater cylinder having an entrance opening at one end and a discharge opening at the other on a heat r shaft passing through the cylinder haying beatersmountcd thereon. dust collecting suction means comiccted to the upper portion of the beater chamber. and sectional closures coacting with the screens and and llO

adapted to be adjusted to regulate the dis charge therethrongh. o

3. A mattress'stock cleaning and picking machine comprising a supporting frame, a

beater chamber, beater cylinder therein,

the top and bottom of which are formed of line wire mesh, the beater cylinder having an entrance opening at one end and a discharge opening at the other end, a beater shaft passing through the cylinder and having heaters mounted thereon, dust collecting suction means connected to the upper portionot the beater chamber, sectional hinged doors constituting closures coacting with the upper screen to regulate the discharge of dust therethrongh, a pair of hinged doors constituting closures coacting with the lower screen and controllingthe discharge of dust therethrongh, and means extending to the exterior of the casing whereby said lower closures may be adjusted.

4:. In a mattress stool: cleaner and picker, a cleaning chamber a cleaning cylinder mounted therein having an entrance at one end and a discharge opening atthe opposite end, means for feeding material in at the entrance opening, suction means for withdrawing material from the discharge opening, a longitudinally extending shat't through the cylinder, beater fingers mounted upon the shaft in spirally extending series, longitudinally extending combs mounted at intervals on the wall of the cylinder, screens formingthe bottom and top of the beater cylinder, a dirt collecting chamber disposed below the'lower screen, a dust collecting suction fan operatively connected to the cleaning chamber above the uppermost screen, and doors coacting with the upper and lower screens to control the effective area of said screens, said doors being adjustable.

5. A picker and cleaner for mattress stock comprising a casing formed to provide a cleaning chamber in the upper portion of the casing, a cleaning cylinder extending lengthwise through the casing. the upper and lower walls of the cleaning cylinder being formed by screens and the cylinder at one end having an entrance opening to the exterior of the casing and at the other end having a discharge opening. a shaft extending through the casing and longitudinally through the cleaning cylinder. beater lingers carried upon said shaft, adjustabledoors coaeting with said screens to control the effective area of the screens, a longitu dinally extending shatt driven from the beater shaft. a fan casing surrounding one end of the shaft and being opera-tively connected to the discharge opening of the cylinder. a suction tan disposed in said -fan casing. a suction fan casing; operatively connected to the cleaning chamber above the upper screen, a suction tan mounted upon I said secondn'amed shaft anddi'sposedwithin the -casing,means for driving the second named shaft from the first named shaft, and feeding iiiean'slcoacting with the inlet opening of the casing cylinder and driven from said first namedshatt;

6. A picker "and cleaner for mattress stock comprisinga casing formed to pro vide a cleaning chamber in the upper portion-of the casing, a cleaning cylinder extending lengthwisethrough the casing, the upper and lower walls of the-cleaning cylinder being formed by'screens and'the cylinder at one end having an entrance opening to the exterior of thecasing and at the other end having a discharge opening, a shaft extending throng-lithe casing and longitudinally through the cleaning cylinder, beater fingerscarri'ed upon said shaft, adjustable doors coacting with said screens to control the elfective area of the screens, a longitudinally extending shaft "driven from the beater shaft, a fan casing surrounding one end of'the' shaft and being operatively con nected tothe'discharge opening of the cylinder, a suction fan disposed in said'fan casing, a suction fan casing operatively connected to the cleaning chamber above the upper screen, a suction fan mounted upon said second named shaft and disposed withinthe casing, means for driving the second named shaft from the first named shaft, feeding means coacting with the inlet open-. ing oi the casing cylinder and driven from said firstnamedshaft. said feeding means including a horizontally disposed endless conveyor, and aqcorrugated feeding roller disposed above the endless conveyor, the conveyor and the feeding roller being driven at the same'speedl i 7. A mattress stock cleaning machine including a cleaning chamber having a stock teed opening at one end a-nd a discharge opening at the other end, a foraminous screen extending along'and forming part of the wall of'said chamber and through which foreign material separated from the stock may be discharged, and doors adapted to partially or wholly close said screened portion of the wall to thereby control the amount of foreign matter discharged through said screen. a

8. A mattress stock cleaningmechanism including a cleaning cylinder, a toraminons screen extending along and forming part of the chamber wall, a door of thin; flexible material hinged at one edge adjacent the margin of the screened portion of the wall and adapted to fit against the outside face of the screen, and means for causing the door throughout its whole or partot its surface to conform to andfit against the screen to thereby control the amount of foreign matter passing through the screen.

9. A mattress stock cleaning machine ineluding cleaning cylinder, a foraminous screen extending along the bottom of the cleaning cylinder and forming part ofthe Wall thereof, the screen being outwardly curved to conform to the curvature of the cylinder, a pair of doors of thin, flexible material hinged along their outer edges adjacent the outer edges of the screen, and means engaging the tree edges of the doors causing said doors throughout their Whole or part of their surface to conform to and fit against the screen to thereby control the amount of foreign matter dropping therethrough. i

10. A mattress stock cleaning machine including acleaning cylinder having a feed opening and a discharge opening at opposite ends, the upper and lower walls of the cleaning cylinder being formed by screens, a casing extending over the upper portion of the cylinder and over the upper screen, suction means connected to said casing whereby to remove the dust from the stock, the lower screen having a mesh sufliciently coarse to permit the passage of relatively heavy dirt, adjustable doors for controlling the effective area of said screen, a beater disposed within the cleaning cylinder, and means for controlling the amount of suction exerted on the air in the chamber above the upper screen. I

In testimony whereof we hereunto ailix our signatures.

v FRED FRANKE.

JAS. E. MILLER. ELDER E. ROBERTS. 

